US PC shipments fell in 2011 for the first time in ten years

Figures released by research firm IDC on Wednesday showed that for the first time in a decade PC shipments in the US declined in 2011.

The American PC market “had its second worst year in history,” IDC said in a press release, with shipments in 2011 dropping 4.9 percent over the previous year.

The PC market has been knocked by a sluggish economy, problems with the supply of hard disks due to the floods in Thailand late last year, and competition from other devices such as tablets and smartphones.

“In the United States, market saturation and the economic environment continue to weigh considerably on consumer demand,” David Daoud, research director of personal computing at IDC, said in the press release.

Despite the fall in shipments in 2011, Daoud said he expected the market to bounce back. “The market is awaiting new products and technologies, promising a new refresh cycle starting in 3Q12 and beyond with a return to positive growth in the mid-term.”

As for worldwide shipments, they also fell. In the fourth quarter of last year, 92.7 million PCs were shipped, down 0.2 percent compared to the same quarter a year earlier.

IDC’s Loren Loverde commented on the figures, saying that Europe and the Asia-Pacific region had actually performed better than expected, indicating improved performance in key markets and reflecting an underlying demand in emerging areas.

He added, “However, the industry still needs to work through some key hurdles in 2012, including recovery of HDD supply, the launch of Windows 8, and successful evolution of PC design to become still more mobile. Despite the challenges, the industry appears to be on the right path, and will be poised for substantial double-digit growth after working through these issues in 2012.”

Nikon is keeping a tight lid on details surrounding its upcoming full frame mirrorless camera, but the latest teaser suggests a camera inspired by the company's 100 year past. Here are all the teasers -- and analyst predictions.

At its September event last year, Apple unveiled the AirPower -- its new wireless charging mat that will allow you to charge multiple devices at one time. It has not yer been released. Here's everything we know about the device so far.

Motorola’s flagship smartphone of 2018 looks exactly like its mid-range smartphone of 2018, but powered by a processor from 2017. It’s still a great-performing phone for $480, and it will be the first upgradable 5G smartphone next year.

To reach its rumored launch timeline of later this year for its low-cost notebook, Apple is expected to begin production of its updated MacBook Air soon. The sub-$1,000 laptop could launch as early as September or October.

A team of Chinese researchers revealed this week that they were able to use a cracked Amazon Echo to exploit a series of Alexa interface flaws to take control over an unteuched Echo running on the same network.

Researchers have successfully hacked John McAfee's Bitfi cryptocurrency wallet. Researchers show that the device can be hacked, as they have gained access to the device's private keys and passphrase despite McAfee's security promotion.

Which music streaming platform is best for you? We pit Spotify versus Pandora, two mighty streaming services with on-demand music and massive catalogs, comparing every facet of the two services to help you decide which is best.

The best laptop should be one that checks all the boxes: Great battery life, beautiful design, and top-notch performance. The laptops we've chosen for our best laptops you can buy do all that — and throw in some extra features while…

A recent survey questioned 595 VR and AR professionals about business growth in the consumer and enterprise markets. Only 24 percent report strong sales in the enterprise while 18 percent show strong sales in the consumer market.

We've compiled a list of the best Chromebooks -- laptops that combine great battery life, comfortable keyboards, and the performance it takes to run Google's lightweight Chrome OS. From Samsung to Acer, these are the Chromebooks that really…

Gamers will have something exciting to look forward to next week when Gamescom starts. Nvidia posted a teaser video to YouTube containing hints that it could use the venue to announce the new GeForce RTX 2080 graphics chip.

Nvidia revealed its new graphics chip design called “Turing” during SIGGRAPH 2018. Rumored to be the foundation of Nvidia’s next family of GeForce cards, the company instead showcased Turing in Quadro RTX-branded cards for pros.